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Boston Globe
04-08-2025
- Business
- Boston Globe
Breaking from his father, Josh Kraft criticizes Trump as having ‘stoked hatred and division'
Kraft, son of New England Patriots Owner Robert Kraft, has been tied to his father's connections to Trump during his campaign. Robert Kraft and Trump have a long history. In 2017, Kraft told the Globe that the two have 'been friends for years' and that during 'the worst time in my dad's life, [Trump] was there for him.' Advertisement Scrutiny over Robert Kraft's friendship with Trump increased after the Globe reported the After the meeting, Josh Kraft received campaign donations from four of the top attorneys at the firm, including its chairman, Brad Karp. At the time, a spokesperson for The Kraft Group denied any coordination between parties for the donation to the campaign. Advertisement Kraft said he is ready to deal with the consequences of the Trump presidency if he is elected mayor, amid 'a mountain of federal budget cuts along with a billion dollar tax credit shortfall.' He also spoke about Mayor Michelle Wu's criticism of his family's relationship with Trump. 'Michelle Wu wants to talk about me, I want to talk about all of you,' Kraft said. Wu could not be immediately reached for comment. Kraft also spoke out against Wu's handling of the Boston housing crisis, the White Stadium renovation, and the city's homelessness problem, saying, 'addiction does not discriminate.' Regarding housing, Kraft said his campaign promises to jump-start construction, implement ' 'Boston is going to be a place where families and young people have to leave the city, and only the wealthy can afford to live here,' Kraft said. Kraft also criticized Wu's comments about 'She's desperate to distract the voters from a record of broken and failed campaign promises and the failures of her policy plans, especially making it easier for the middle class to afford to live in the city of Boston,' Kraft said. Kraft said he proposes a plan to place White Stadium, located in Franklin Park, back in the hands of Boston Public Schools students and athletes. He previously criticized Mayor Wu for not disclosing the Advertisement The renovations, which were subject to lawsuits over alleged During the press conference, Kraft dismissed comments about Super PAC tax exemptions. Super PACs are not limited in their campaign contributions, and can donate more than the $1,000 limit. The Your City Your Future Super PAC that supports Kraft has donated more than $3 million to his campaign. He also did not discuss his tax returns, which his campaign promised to release before the preliminary vote on Sept. 9. His campaign revealed last week he earned $6.3 million in 2024 but declined to break down the sources of Kraft's income. Wu and others have criticized Kraft for his lack of income transparency and the possibility of conflicts of interest in his mayoral campaign. Kraft has already personally contributed $2 million to his campaign. Mayoral candidates are not required to release their tax returns, but it has become common practice to do so. Wu said she has disclosed her finances for the last 12 years. If elected, Kraft said he would not be involved with his family business to avoid conflicts of interest. Critics, including Wu, flagged The Kraft Group's proposed soccer stadium in Everett, to which The Kraft Group proposed mitigation payments of $750,000. Kraft served as the head of the family charity, the New England Patriot Charitable Foundation. The nonprofit reported that Kraft was not paid a salary for his role, but a spokesperson from the campaign said Advertisement Kraft was also the head of the Boston Boys and Girls Club for more than a decade, where he earned $350,000 in 2020, the year he stepped down from his leadership role. Maria Probert can be reached at
Boston Globe
12-03-2025
- Business
- Boston Globe
The first thing we do, let's kill all the (Democratic) lawyers …
Get The Gavel A weekly SCOTUS explainer newsletter by columnist Kimberly Atkins Stohr. Enter Email Sign Up 'This should be terrifying to anybody,' said Boston lawyer Lauren Stiller Rikleen, executive director of Lawyers Defending American Democracy. 'You kill a democracy by killing the infrastructure that protects us all and undermining the rule of law.' Advertisement And so Trump aims to strike at the very heart of this nation's adversarial system of justice, where everyone is entitled to a competent defense. 'We have a lot of law firms that we're going to be going after because they were very dishonest people,' Trump told Last week Trump signed an The order targets the firm for 'dishonest and dangerous activity,' namely its 2016 representation of 'failed Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton' and its role in the hiring of Fusion GPS, the source for what became known as the Advertisement That executive order was followed, about a week later, by another order directed against The order also terminated security clearances for anyone involved in the firm and ordered the termination of any government agreements with the firm 'to the maximum extent permitted by law.' The order against Perkins Coie represents an escalation in Trump's war on Big Law, proposing what amounts to a secondary boycott by the federal government of its clients. The firm represents such government contractors as T-Mobile, Microsoft, Northrop Grumman, and Boeing, according to its A spokesperson for the firm labeled the executive order ' The grounds for fighting back may be many and varied — from procedural (say a lack of notice for lifting those security clearances) to constitutional — a violation of the First Amendment's free speech guarantees or the Fifth Amendment's due process clause. With such high-powered clients at stake (Perkins Coie, founded in Seattle, has represented Boeing since the aircraft maker's founding), the firm left no time in hiring another high-powered law firm, Williams & Connolly, to fight this particular battle with the White House, as it pledged to do. Advertisement The That's just the chilling effect the Trump administration has been looking for. 'Lawyers must be free to represent clients and perform their ethical duty without fear of retribution,' American Bar Association President William R. Bay said in a Sure, there is no shortage of lawsuits being waged against the Trump administration already — the number now stands at 114, according to the 'We've never seen anything like this before,' Rikleen said. Noting that even John Adams had represented the British soldiers charged in the Boston Massacre, she added, 'What we're seeing is punishment by the president of the United States of lawyers for who they represent. This could happen to any of us at any time.' No one is going to have to pass the hat for either of these prestigious law firms any time soon. But that doesn't mean their persecution isn't important. It is. And as Rikleen told the editorial board, it's a move right out of the autocrats' playbook — attacking the courts, the media, and the legal community, sowing distrust. For Trump it's all about payback. For the American public those attacks and those executive orders represent a dagger to the heart of democracy. That's a fight worth fighting. Advertisement Editorials represent the views of the Boston Globe Editorial Board. Follow us
